Facebook’s ad figures called into question

US – The potential reach figures that social media giant Facebook gives advertisers differ from US census data according to an investment analyst.

Pivotal Research Group analyst, Brian Wieser, explained in a widely reported note to clients that although Facebook’s ad-buying website says it has a potential reach of 41 million 18- to 24-year-olds in the US, census data last year found there were 31m in that age range.

It also claims 60m potential reach among 25- to 34-year-olds while US consensus data showed 45m in this range.

Facebook responded that the mismatch was intentional because ‘ad reach numbers are designed to estimate how many people in a given area are eligible to see an ad a business might run. They are not designed to match population or census estimates.’